Toy vehicle launching apparatus

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is a toy vehicle accelerating apparatus of a traveling toy, the toy vehicle accelerating apparatus including: a vehicle body including a tunnel-like passage piercing the vehicle body in a front-back direction to allow a toy vehicle to pass through the passage; a drive roller, at least a part of which projects to the passage to press the toy vehicle passing through the passage; a roller driving section to give a rotative force for accelerating the toy vehicle to the drive roller; and a power source for the roller driving section, wherein the toy vehicle accelerating apparatus accelerates the toy vehicle entering the passage from one side thereof with the drive roller to discharge the toy vehicle from the other side of the passage.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a toy vehicle launching apparatus.

2. Description of Related Art

As a toy vehicle launching apparatus in which a motor drives driverollers and the drive rollers launch a toy vehicle to make it travel,for example, there are toy vehicle launching apparatus disclosed in U.S.Pat. No. 5,299,969 (see FIG. 5), U.S. Pat. No. 5,899,789 (see FIG. 3),and U.S. Pat. No. 6,695,675 (see FIGS. 2-4). Any of these toy vehiclelaunching apparatus (toy vehicle accelerating apparatus) disclosed inthese Patent Documents sets a part of a pair of drive rollers arrangedso that their shafts may be parallel to each other so as to face to theside faces of a traveling lane, and supports the toy vehicle with driverollers from both the side faces to launch the toy vehicle by the driverollers.

Now, since an apparatus frame body equipped with a launching section isfixed to be installed on a course in each of the toy vehicle launchingapparatus of the aforesaid Patent Documents, the toy vehicle cannottravel without making the toy vehicle enter the apparatus frame bodywith a human hand.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to provide a toy vehicle launchingapparatus capable of launching a toy vehicle only by moving an apparatusframe body equipped with a launching section to the toy vehicle to raiseentertainingness.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a toyvehicle accelerating apparatus of a traveling toy, the toy vehicleaccelerating apparatus including: a vehicle body including a tunnel-likepassage piercing the vehicle body in a front-back direction to allow atoy vehicle to pass through the passage; a drive roller, at least a partof which projects to the passage to press the toy vehicle passingthrough the passage; a roller driving section to give a rotative forcefor accelerating the toy vehicle to the drive roller; and a power sourcefor the roller driving section, wherein the toy vehicle acceleratingapparatus accelerates the toy vehicle entering the passage from one sidethereof with the drive roller to discharge the toy vehicle from theother side of the passage.

The term of “traveling toy” is the concept including the “toy vehicle”here, and indicates a whole traveling matter, such as a travelingstructure (for example, a gate) other than the toy vehicle. The“traveling toy” maybe the one including a power source to be able to beself-propelled, to say nothing of the one not including any powersources. In case of the “traveling toy” not including any power sources,it is needed to push it with a human hand to slide the “traveling toy”on a floor or the like to make it travel, or it is needed to rotate thewheels thereof to make it travel.

The term of “toy vehicle” may be a vehicle having a power source to beself-propelled, to say nothing of the one having no power sources.Incidentally, in the case of a toy vehicle having no power sources, itis preferable to be the one capable of being accelerated to travel by aninertia force.

Although the entering of the toy vehicle into the passage is preferablyperformed from the front side of the passage, the entering may beperformed from the rear side of the passage.

Preferably, the drive roller is provided on each of both sides of thepassage and each of the drive rollers is rotatable around a verticalshaft in the vehicle body, and each of the drive rollers is pressed toeach corresponding side face of the toy vehicle to accelerate the toyvehicle.

Preferably, each of the drive rollers is movable between a closeposition, at which the drive rollers are close to each other, and adistant position, at which the drive rollers are distant from eachother, within the passage, and each of the drive rollers is biasedtoward the close position by a biasing section to a degree of notpreventing the toy vehicle from entering between the drive rollers.

Preferably, each of the drive rollers is severally attached to aswinging arm swinging in a predetermined range on a horizontal planearound a respective predetermined shaft, and the roller driving sectionincludes a sun gear attached to the predetermined shaft and a planetarygear provided on a roller shaft and rotating integrally with the driveroller.

Preferably, the traveling toy travels on a track board, on which acirculating course is formed, the circulating course including a pair ofrails projecting upwardly from a face of the track board to form atraveling lane for allowing the toy vehicle to travel between the pairof rails, and an under surface of the vehicle body is provided with aguide roller capable of abutting against an outer surfaces of the pairof rails to guide the traveling toy.

Preferably, the drive roller is made of an elastic synthetic resin andincludes a boss fixed to a roller shaft, an orbicular zone-like rimconstituting an outer periphery, and a spoke coupling the boss and therim.

According to the aspect of the present invention, since the toy vehiclesituated at an arbitrary position can be accelerated to travel only bymoving the traveling toy equipped with the toy vehicle acceleratingapparatus to a position of the toy vehicle, the entertainingness of thetraveling toy can be raised.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, advantages and features of the presentinvention will become more fully understood from the detaileddescription given hereinbelow and the appended drawings which are givenby way of illustration only, and thus are not intended as a definitionof the limits of the present invention, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a circuit racecourse equipped witha toy vehicle accelerating apparatus according to an embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an internal mechanism of a traveling toy;

FIG. 3 is a rear view showing a guide structure of the traveling toy;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the internal mechanism of thetraveling toy conceptually;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a drive roller, which is aconstituent element of an accelerating section; and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a clutch intervening in a motivepower transmission system of the drive roller conceptually.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In the following, a toy vehicle launching apparatus according to anembodiment of the present invention will be described with reference tothe attached drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a circuit racecourse model equippedwith a toy vehicle launching apparatus according to the presentinvention; FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the internal mechanism of anapparatus frame body; FIG. 3 is a rear view showing a guide structure ofthe apparatus frame body; FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing theinternal mechanism of the apparatus frame body conceptually; FIG. 5 is aperspective view showing a drive roller, which is a constituent elementof a toy vehicle launching section; and FIG. 6 is a perspective viewshowing a clutch intervening in a motive power transmission system ofthe drive roller conceptually.

As shown in FIG. 1, a toy vehicle launching apparatus (toy vehicleaccelerating apparatus; hereinafter referred to as a launchingapparatus) 1 is configured in a traveling toy (automobile toy) Btraveling on a circulation track board 2 of a circuit racecourse model.As shown in FIG. 1, a pair of circular rails 2 a is provided on thetrack board 2. The traveling toy B travels into a predetermineddirection on the track board 2 along the rails 2 a. On the other hand, atoy vehicle (automobile toy) A smaller than the traveling toy B in sizetravels into the reverse direction on the track board 2. When thetraveling toy B meets the toy vehicle A, the traveling toy B swallowsthe toy vehicle A to accelerate it, and then the traveling toy Bdischarges the toy vehicle A from the rear side of the traveling toy B.The discharged toy vehicle A keeps on running on the track board 2.

In the following, the mechanism of the above operation will bedescribed.

(Track Board 2)

The pair of rails 2 a provided on the track board 2 projects upwardabove the face of the board 2 to form a traveling lane of the toyvehicle A.

(Toy Vehicle A)

The toy vehicle A is not equipped with any power sources, and the wheelsof the toy vehicle A are rotated by being given an external force, andthereby the toy vehicle A travels.

(Traveling Toy B)

In order to travel on the track board 2 by its own force, the travelingtoy B is equipped with a power source, a motor 5, and a travelingmechanism 6 (see FIGS. 2 and 4). The traveling mechanism 6 includes aworm gear 8 a fixed on the motor shaft, a crown gear 8 b, a shaft 8 c, agear 8 d, a crown gear 8 e, and gears 8 f, 8 g, 8 h, and 8 i. Then, thetraveling toy B transmits the motive power of the motor 5 to rear wheels7 through the worm gear 8 a, the crown gear 8 b, the shaft 8 c, the gear8 d, the crown gear 8 e, and the gears 8 f, 8 g, 8 h, and 8 i to drivethe rear wheels 7. Thereby, the traveling toy B is configured to be ableto travel by its own force.

Moreover, a tunnel-like passage 3 a piercing the traveling toy B intothe front-back direction of the vehicle body 3 is formed in thetraveling toy B. The passage 3 a is formed for allowing the toy vehicleA to pass through the traveling toy B. The lower part of the passage 3 ais opened, so as to allow the toy vehicle A traveling in the travelinglane to pass through the traveling toy B as it is without detaching thetoy vehicle A from the traveling lane.

On both sides of the passage 3 a, guide walls 3 b and 3 c to perform thetravel guiding of the toy vehicle A by forming both the sides of thepassage 3 a in the width direction thereof are formed.

Among them, in view of the traveling toy B traveling on the circularrails 2 a, the guide wall 3 b situated on the inside of the circularrails 2 a is formed to be curved in a bow or in an arc in a planar view.On the other hand, the guide wall 3 c situated on the outside of thecircular rails 2 a is formed so as to extend in a straight line into thefront-back direction of the vehicle body 3 at an intermediate part andto incline toward the outside in width direction of the vehicle body 3at the front end part and rear end part thereof in a planar view. InFIG. 2, for the sake of the convenience for illustration, the rails 2 ain straight lines are shown.

In particular, the reason why the guide wall 3 b is formed in a curvedshape in an arc in a planar view is that the traveling toy B travels ina predetermined direction on the track board 2 including the circularrails 2 a. The reason is that if the guide wall 3 b is formed in astraight line to extend in the front-back direction of the vehicle body3, then the front end part of the guide wall 3 b crosses the rail 2 a onthe inner side to protrudes into the traveling lane, and it becomesimpossible to swallow the toy vehicle A into the vehicle body 3. Thus,in order to avoid such a situation, it is necessary that at least thefront end part of the guide wall 3 b is formed in a bow or in an arc.

Moreover, the traveling toy B is equipped with a vehicle acceleratingsection within the passage 3 a. The vehicle accelerating sectionincludes a pair of drive rollers 10 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4.

The drive rollers 10 are made of an elastic synthetic resin, such assilicon gum. The drive rollers 10 are fixed at the lower end parts ofroller shafts 11. As shown in FIG. 5, each of the drive rollers 10 iscomposed of an orbicular zone-like rim 10 a, a boss 10 b fixed to theroller shaft 11, and spokes 10 c coupling the rim 10 a and the boss 10 bwith each other. In the drive roller 10, each of the spokes 10 c isformed to be curved in an arc or in a bow by projecting toward therotation direction of the drive roller 10.

The reason why each of the drive rollers 10 is formed of the elasticsynthetic resin and is composed of the rim 10 a, the boss 10 b, and thespokes 10 c is that the rim 10 a between the adjacent spokes 10 c ismade to be easily deformed and thereby the rim 10 a is made to abut onthe side face of the toy vehicle A in a wide range to strongly push thetoy vehicle A with the rim 10 a in the part of the spokes 10 c. Althoughthe spokes 10 c may not be a curved form, the curved forms of the spokes10 c are especially highly effective. With regard to this respect, ifthe drive rollers 10 are formed of a hard resin, then the drive rollers10 contact with the side face of the toy vehicle A in the state of theline contact of the generating lines of the drive rollers 10, andconsequently the drive rollers 10 sometimes slip on the side faces ofthe toy vehicle A and cannot push out the toy vehicle A strongly.

Moreover, the traveling toy B is equipped with a power source and amotive power transmitting mechanism 15 to transmit the motive power fromthe motor 5 to the drive rollers 10 on both sides. The power source andthe motive power transmitting mechanism 15 are for the sake of rotatingthe drive rollers 10. The power source is used for traveling in common.

The motive power transmitting mechanism 15 constitutes the rollerdriving section together with the motor 5. The motive power transmittingmechanism 15 transmits the motive power to the drive rollers 10 on bothsides through two motive power transmitting routs. The motive powertransmitting rout from the motor 5 to the drive roller 10 on the leftside in the traveling direction of the traveling toy B is the routcomposed of the worm gear 8 a fixed on the motor shaft, and gears 16 a,16 b, 16 c, 16 d-1, and 16 e-1. On the other hand, the motive powertransmitting rout from the motor 5 to the drive roller 10 on the rightside in the traveling direction of the traveling toy B is the routcomposed of the worm gear 8 a fixed on the motor shaft, and gears 16 a,16 b, 16 c, 16 d-1, 16 d-2, and 16 e-2.

Moreover, the traveling toy B is equipped with a clutch mechanism 18within the motive power transmitting mechanism 15. The clutch mechanism18 works to drive the drive rollers 10 only when the vehicle body 3 ofthe traveling toy B is placed so as to bestride the pair of rails 2 a.

The clutch mechanism 18, as shown in FIG. 6, includes a pair of clutchdiscs 19 and 20 and a clutch disc operating mechanism 21. Clutch teethare formed on each of the opposed surfaces of the pair of clutch discs19 and 20.

The pair of clutch discs 19 and 20 is for the sake of performing thecoupling and decoupling of the gear 16 c and the gear 16 d. The pair ofclutch discs 19 and 20 is provided on the same shaft 22 as that of thegears 16 b and 16 c. To put it concretely, the clutch disc 19 is fixedon the shaft 22 in the state of being incapable of rotating similarly tothe gear 16 b. However, the clutch disc 19 on one side is made to bemovable in the shaft line direction along a spline 22 a formed on theshaft 22. The clutch disc 20 on the other side is fixed to a gear 16 cattached to the shaft 22 in the state of being capable of slipping.Then, when the mutual clutch teeth of the pair of clutch discs 19 and 20engage with each other, the gears 16 b and 16 c couple with each other,and motive power is transmitted between them. On the other hand, whenthe engagement of the mutual clutch teeth of the pair of clutch discs 19and 20 is released, the mutual coupling of the gears 16 b and 16 c isreleased, and no motive power are transmitted between them.

The clutch disc operating mechanism 21 is for the sake of performing theengagement and the release of the engagement of the mutual clutch teethof the clutch discs 19 and 20. The clutch disc operating mechanism 21includes an operation rod 23, a lever 24, and a spring 25. The operationrod 23 is provided to extend in the vertical direction of the travelingtoy B. The lower end part of the operation rod 23 projects below fromthe bottom surface of the traveling toy B. The lever 24 performs aseesaw operation around its intermediate part as a shaft 24 a. The lever24 is hooked by the spring 25. One end side of the lever 24 biases theoperation rod 23 toward the lower part, and the other side end of thelever 24 is inserted into a circumferential groove of the clutch disc20.

When the traveling toy B is placed to bestride the pair of rails 2 a,the operation rod 23 hits against the upper surface of the rails 2 a andis pushed up. Thereby, the lever 24 performs a seesaw operation to makethe clutch disc 19 descend and to make the clutch teeth of the clutchdiscs 19 and 20 engage with each other. On the other hand, when thevehicle body 3 of the traveling toy B is lifted, the operation rod 23descends by a biasing force of the spring 25, and the mutual engagementof the clutch teeth of the clutch discs 19 and 20 is released.

Moreover, the traveling toy B is provided with planetary gear mechanisms30 within the motive power transmitting mechanism 15. In order to makethe drive rollers 10 abut against the side faces of the toy vehicles Ahaving different breadths suitably, it becomes necessary for the driverollers 10 themselves to move in accordance with the breadth of the toyvehicle A. On the other hand, since the drive rollers 10 are driven torotate by the motive power of the motor 5, the motive power of the motor5 must be transmitted to the drive rollers 10. In order to satisfy boththe necessities, the planetary gear mechanisms 30 are incorporatedwithin the motive power transmitting mechanism 15.

Each of the planetary gear mechanisms 30 is composed of the gear (sungear) 16 d (16 d-1 or 16 d-2), a swinging arm 31, and the gear(planetary gear) 16 e (16 e-1 or 16 e-2). Among them, the gear 16 e isfixed to each of the roller shafts 11. Moreover, the swinging arm 31 isattached to each of the shafts 33, to which the gear 16 d is attached,in the state capable of slipping.

The planetary gear mechanisms 30 are provided on both the sides of thetraveling toy B in the traveling direction thereof.

Incidentally, in the planetary gear mechanisms 30, the gear (planetarygear) 16 e is located at a position behind that of the gear (sun gear)16 d on both the sides of the traveling toy B, and the roller shaft 11to which the gear 16 e is fixed is configured to move at positions outerthan that of the shaft 33 of the gear 16 d in the width direction of thetraveling toy B. Moreover, guide holes 34 for regulating the movingranges of the roller shafts 11 are formed in the vehicle body 3.Thereby, each of the drive rollers 10 on both sides can move betweeneach of the predetermined close positions and each of the predetermineddistant positions in accordance with the breadth of the toy vehicle A.

According to the planetary gear mechanisms 30, when the gear 16 drotates by the motive power of the motor 5, as shown in FIG. 2, theroller shafts 11 and therefore the drive rollers 10 move inward in thewidth direction of the traveling toy B. In this state, when the toyvehicle A enters between the drive rollers 10 on both the sides, thefront parts on both the sides of the toy vehicle A collide against thedrive rollers 10 on both the sides, and the drive rollers 10 on both thesides move toward the outside in the width direction of the travelingtoy B.

Moreover, the traveling toy B is provided with a biasing section 40 ofthe drive rollers 10 on both the sides, as shown in FIG. 4. The biasingsection 40 is for the sake of pressing the drive rollers 10 on both thesides toward corresponding side faces of the toy vehicle A at apredetermined pressure.

The biasing section 40 is composed of a spring hooked between both theroller shafts 11 on both the sides or both the swinging arms 31 on boththe sides. If the biasing section 40 is hooked between both the rollershafts 11 on both the sides, the biasing section 40 is arranged lest thebiasing section 40 should prevent the rotations of the roller shafts 11.Moreover, the biasing force of the biasing section 40 is set to the onein the degree of not preventing the movements of the drive rollers 10 onboth the sides caused by the entering of the toy vehicle A.

Moreover, the traveling toy B is provided with floating rollers 50 onboth the sides of the front part and the rear part of the bottom surfaceof the vehicle body 3, as shown in FIG. 3. The floating rollers 50 abutagainst the outer surfaces of the rails 2 a on both the sides at thetime of the travel of the traveling toy B to work to guide the travelingtoy B along the rails 2 a.

Incidentally, the traveling toy B is provided with a traveling modeswitching mechanism to switch the traveling mode of the traveling toy Bbetween an automatic traveling mode and a manual traveling mode,although the traveling mode switching mechanism is not shown. Thetraveling mode switching mechanism makes a part of the gears 8 e-8 h inthe traveling mechanism 6 movable in the shaft direction through leversor the like, and switches the traveling mode between the automatictraveling mode and the manual traveling mode by moving the part of thegears 8 e-8 h in the shaft direction with manipulators.

In the toy vehicle launching apparatus 1, the rear wheels 7 are drivenby the motor 5, thereby the traveling toy B is made to travel along therails 2 a on the track board 2, and the drive rollers 10 on both thesides are also driven by the motor 5.

Then, when the traveling toy B meets the reversely sent toy vehicle A,the traveling toy B swallows the toy vehicle A within the passage 3 athereof. Then, when the toy vehicle A entering within the passage 3 areaches the drive rollers 10 on both the sides, the drive rollers 10 onboth the sides put the toy vehicle A between them and accelerates it todischarge it to the rear direction of the vehicle body 3.

Incidentally, although the drive rollers 10 are installed on both thesides in the embodiment, the drive rollers 10 may be installed on anupper part of the passage 3 a. Moreover, the traveling toy B may beprovided with a floor surface on which the drive rollers 10 areinstalled, and may pick up the toy vehicle A from the traveling laneonce to accelerate it.

According to the embodiment of the present invention, since the toyvehicle A situated at an arbitrary position can be accelerated to travelby moving the traveling toy B equipped with the toy vehicle acceleratingapparatus 1 to a position of the toy vehicle A, the entertainingness ofthe traveling toy B can be raised.

Moreover, since each of the drive rollers 10 is pressed to eachcorresponding side face of the toy vehicle A to accelerate the toyvehicle A, the toy vehicles A having the distorted upper surfaces, suchas a truck crane and a ladder truck, can be surely accelerated.

Moreover, each of the drive rollers 10 is movable between the closeposition and the distant position, and the drive rollers 10 are biasedtoward the close position by the biasing section 40. Consequently, toyvehicles A having different breadths can be surely accelerated.

Moreover, the swinging arm 31, the sun gear 16 d, and the planetary gear16 e constitute the planetary gear mechanism 30, and motive power istransmitted through the planetary gear mechanism 30. Consequently, themotive power can be surely transmitted to the drive rollers 10 on thebasis of setting the drive rollers 10 themselves to be movable.

Moreover, the traveling toy B swallows the toy vehicle A and acceleratesthe toy vehicle A to discharge it on the track board 2, on which thecirculating course is formed, and consequently the toy vehicle A cancontinually or intermittently travel.

Moreover, it is possible to abut the rim 10 a against each of the sidefaces of the toy vehicle A in a wide area to strongly push out the toyvehicle A with the rim 10 a at the spoke part by making the rim 10 abetween the spokes 10 c easy to deform. The entire disclosure ofJapanese Patent Application filed on Apr. 8, 2008 including description,claims, drawings, and abstract are incorporated herein by reference inits entirety.

Although various exemplary embodiments have been shown and described,the invention is not limited to the embodiments shown. Therefore, thescope of the invention is intended to be limited solely by the scope ofthe claims that follow.

1. A toy vehicle accelerating apparatus of a traveling toy, the toyvehicle accelerating apparatus comprising: a vehicle body including atunnel-like passage piercing the vehicle body in a front-back directionto allow a toy vehicle to pass through the passage; a drive roller, atleast a part of which projects to the passage to press the toy vehiclepassing through the passage; a roller driving section to give a rotativeforce for accelerating the toy vehicle to the drive roller; and a powersource for the roller driving section, wherein the toy vehicleaccelerating apparatus accelerates the toy vehicle entering the passagefrom one side thereof with the drive roller to discharge the toy vehiclefrom the other side of the passage.
 2. The toy vehicle acceleratingapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the drive roller is provided oneach of both sides of the passage and each of the drive rollers isrotatable around a vertical shaft in the vehicle body, and each of thedrive rollers is pressed to each corresponding side face of the toyvehicle to accelerate the toy vehicle.
 3. The toy vehicle acceleratingapparatus according to claim 2, wherein each of the drive rollers ismovable between a close position, at which the drive rollers are closeto each other, and a distant position, at which the drive rollers aredistant from each other, within the passage, and each of the driverollers is biased toward the close position by a biasing section to adegree of not preventing the toy vehicle from entering between the driverollers.
 4. The toy vehicle accelerating apparatus according to claim 3,wherein each of the drive rollers is severally attached to a swingingarm swinging in a predetermined range on a horizontal plane around arespective predetermined shaft, and the roller driving section includesa sun gear attached to the predetermined shaft and a planetary gearprovided on a roller shaft and rotating integrally with the driveroller.
 5. The toy vehicle accelerating apparatus according to claim 1,wherein the traveling toy travels on a track board, on which acirculating course is formed, the circulating course including a pair ofrails projecting upwardly from a face of the track board to form atraveling lane for allowing the toy vehicle to travel between the pairof rails, and an under surface of the vehicle body is provided with aguide roller capable of abutting against an outer surfaces of the pairof rails to guide the traveling toy.
 6. The toy vehicle acceleratingapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the drive roller is made of anelastic synthetic resin and includes a boss fixed to a roller shaft, anorbicular zone-like rim constituting an outer periphery, and a spokecoupling the boss and the rim.